Scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have identified a common set of genes that enable different drought-resistant plants to survive in semi-arid conditions, which could play a significant ...

Until now, acreage was designated for either photovoltaics or photosynthesis, that is, to generate electricity or grow crops. An agrophotovoltaics (APV) pilot project near Lake Constance, however, has now demonstrated that ...

Nothing works without fuel: plants also depend on fuel for growth and development. In living organisms, fuel comes as the universal energy currency adenosine triphosphate (ATP). An international team of researchers led by ...

The sustainability of growing crops for use as energy sources has been disputed for many years. A potentially attractive alternative is to use waste and residues from agricultural and forestry. However, using waste and other ...

Three decades ago, a University of Nevada researcher who obtained one of the first U.S. Energy Department grants to study the potential to turn plants into biofuels became convinced that a roadside weed—curly top gumweed—was ...

Because food crops are also used for energy production, millions of people are threatened by starvation. Algae could provide an alternative: They only need sunlight to grow, thrive in salty water on barren fields. But it ...

(Phys.org) —In addition to providing renewable energy, grass crops like switchgrass and miscanthus could store some of the carbon they pull from the atmosphere in the soil, according to a new study by University of Illinois ...

Climate change may expand suitable cropland, particularly in the Northern high latitudes, but tropical regions may becoming decreasingly suitable, according to a study published September 17, 2014 in the open-access journal ...

Fossil fuel emissions release billions of tons of carbon into the atmosphere each year, which is changing the climate and threatening the sustainability of life on planet Earth. In Brazil, the demand for alternative energy ...

Plant-based biofuels were initially hailed as the answer to all problems posed by traditional fossil fuels. Supply is unlimited and they are also neutral to emissions harmful to the environment also. But using plants has ...